Navigation

On the south side of town. US 81/290 to the Hwy 71 (Ben White Blvd E.) exit. Hwy 71 west to the Congress Ave. exit. Head south a couple of blocks, turn right on St. Elmo Rd W., then take the second left onto Lareina.

Cathedral of Junk: The Cathedral of Junk may yet dodge the wrecking ball. Since early March, Vince Hannemann and his creation have been hammered by cudgels of bureaucratic chaos.
[07/16/2010]Complete Story...

Cathedral of Junk: From the scrap heap it came, and to the scrap heap it will eventually return. But fans of the Cathedral of Junk in Austin, Texas, just don't want it to go there right now.
[03/25/2010]Complete Story...

I couldn't get Vince [owner/builder] on the phone to make an appointment. He has a voicemail with instructions, but I figured if I ever wanted to see the Cathedral I'd have to take a chance he'd be willing to show it to me after driving 12 hours. I brought my own piece of junk and planned to leave it on his doorstep and take a photo from his fence.

However, as luck would have it he was there, and super cool. It probably helped that I had five kids bounce out with anticipation to see his sculptures; he caved fairly quickly after learning how far we drove just to see his art. He doesn't charge for kids to see his Cathedral but I gave him an extra donation since he allowed us in without an appointment. To me it was worth way more.

Park in front of his house, as he says that not all his neighbors are cool or fans of his art. I felt safe in his neighborhood; there were lots of people walking their dogs. He has a friendly personality and he seemed to enjoy our visit despite us interrupting his yard work, and even walked us to our vehicle when we decided to leave after about an hour. He allowed us to take live video, still photos, selfies with him, walk unsupervised through his backyard, and answered whatever questions we had. He does not do anything internet related, so don't expect to get an appointment through Facebook or any way other than his phone number.

Vince welcomed my piece of junk and said that's how he built the Cathedral, with other people's junk. He said it's not uncommon for people to show up without an appointment when he's not there and leave their junk on his doorstep (He is totally fine with that as well). The inside of the Cathedral really does feel much larger than it looks from the outside. Vince compared it to a Dr. Who TARDIS.